American Idol – The Remaining Dozen

It’s kind of like the dirty dozen. I did almost call this post “The Mono-filled Dozen” because was it just me or did a lot of tonights crew look mono-ridden? Especially the boys!

Tonight was really interesting. It’s hard for me to compare it to last week because honestly it’s hard for me to think back to last week. I think I have stomach flu PTSD. But from what I recall there were a handful of good performances, and last night was no different. There were exactly 4 contestants that I really liked, and then one more that I hope still makes it through. I feel pretty good about that because it means that the judges can allow in those 5, and then they can still allow 2 more without me blowing a gasket. It’s a win win for everybody.

So let’s go through the contestants from tonight and I’ll try to do another “say one nice thing/one criticism” for each contestant and we’ll see how it goes.

Shelbie Z – Work Hard, Play Harder

+ I thought she was a great way to start the show because I knew she’d be really energetic and most likely, a solid performance.

– While the performance was solid, it was also somewhat forgettable. To me, it was just like every other performance she’s done to date. I just want to see her maybe connect with a song, do a song with some emotion and not just one with a good glory note at the end.

Manny Torres – Adventures of a Lifetime

+ He was one of my favorite guys going into tonight.

– Well… the minus is with myself I guess. I’ve been poo-pooing so many of the guys this season, and I think the only reason I really liked Manny was his energy and his attitude. Listening to his song tonight (and after hearing the remaining contestants), I thought he was actually one of the worst performances by a guy tonight. These things happen though. I wasn’t that attached at this point so now is probably the time to drop off this bandwagon.

Kory Wheeler – Let it Go

+ I didn’t have anything against the performance itself.

– And as for the minus…

Amelia Eisenhauser (or is it Eisenhauer? I’ve seen it both ways) – Wake Me Up

+ I learned to like this song when Majesty Rose sang it last year (two years ago? really? that was two years ago?) and I thought Amelia made it sound even better. She really picked a good time to come out with a great song! And she was one of the very few that picked a great song to sing tonight so I feel like that deserves a little bonus clap!

– I really don’t have any. I guess my only negative is that I worry that she’s competition for Jeneve, and vice versa. I hope people don’t forget about her because I feel like she’s gaining a good momentum at this point. I hope it continues!

Jenn Blosil – Sorry

+ I really really really wish I had one. And if anyone was wondering about that one person I want to go through even though they didn’t have a good performance, if you didn’t guess Jenn, you don’t know me very well.

– It was just… it was not good. It was so out of tune. Part of me wondered if she had some kind of Adele mic issue going on but I think we all know that wasn’t it.

CJ Johnson – I’ll Be.

+ He sang very well.

– That song… oh god that song. Do you know HOW MANY times that song has been performed on idol? If ever there was a time to discuss poor song choice, it was with CJ. Nothing against CJ, but seriously, everything against CJ. Know your idol history, brah. He could’ve done so well with some kind of rock song (even slowed down to an “I’ll Be” pace) but this song was terrible, and he changed nothing about it so to me, it was just a guy who’s pretty good at karaoke singing a song I’ve heard 100 times at karaoke.

Lee Jean – Runaway

+ Good song choice, and Lee is a cute kid.

– Much like Kory Wheeler… I just thought it was forgettable.

Trent Mother Fucking Harmon – What Are You Listening To?

+ What most surprised me tonight… and I know, this is shameful what with all my resistance to him getting to this point in the competition. I hate myself a little bit for even saying this… but I really liked Trent tonight!

– Just me over here hating myself for liking Trent. Hopefully it goes away. Lord knows his mono hasn’t. More negatives, this was the best performance of the night, if you ask me.

Tristan McIntosh – Good Girl

+ When compared to Gianna, who I think is her biggest competition, I thought she was stellar.

– I feel like she was really sharp at points of her performance. She didn’t really have a good amount of stage presence (though I felt I could say that about a lot of people last night) and compared to the rest of the girls in this competition, she just isn’t Top 10 material for me. Maybe in a few more years or something.

Adam Lasher – Black and Gold

+ Adding to the list of people I thought I was “so over” that I ended up really liking, is Adam. I genuinely enjoyed his performance tonight and for me he was second only to Trent.

– I did agree with Harry’s criticism of his tempo but for me it was negligible. I just hope he keeps singing songs like this (a song I don’t think I’ve ever heard).

Dalton Rapattoni – Rebel Yell

+ Dalton is one of the very few people this season who really know how to pick a song. He is so creative with his song choices and it’s something I genuinely REALLY like about him. If I had to pick a Top 7 for myself, he’d definitely be in it. And I didn’t have that feeling going into tonight.

– I’m obsessing over whether his eye color is real because the blue eyes throw me off. They don’t look natural to me – but if they are – then maybe he’s just a Cal Ripken/Frank Sinatra/Bradley Cooper type with strikingly blue eyes, yet dark features? I mean it has been known to happen.

Olivia Rox – Confident

+ I wasn’t familiar with the original song but after listening to it, I think I actually liked Olivia’s version more.

– She really doesn’t have the vocal power that Demi has and it really showed in this performance. I think had I not listened to the original song, I would’ve liked Olivia’s performance a lot more, but I can’t un-listen to it.

So, with that, I think if I had to pick a Top 07 (and boy do I wish I could do something like, I dunno… VOTE!?!?!?!? I would) I would pick:

Olivia, Amelia, Trent, Adam, Jenn (with hopes that tonight was a screw up), and probably Dalton and CJ. So many more guys than I thought I would root for, but it is what it is! Being as they only kept 2 guys last week, it’s probably appropriate that I have 4 guys that I think are worth saving this week.

And for the duets tonight, who do you think will perform with whom? We’ve got David Cook, Chris Daughtry, Constantine Maroulis, Kellie Pickler, Haley Reinhart and Jordin Sparks. That’s a lot of rock and not a lot of rockers tonight. And I pity whoever gets paired with Haley because they’re probably going to sound terrible. Here are some guesses from me, but their just wild guesses. No grounding in actual fact or reasoning…